Oh and I think saying that Mr. Bungle's albums were "unique, varied and dense" is a matter of perspective - personally I really don't enjoy Mr. Bungle... unique, yes, but not in a good way. I don't really see how Tool isn't unique, they don't sound like many other bands... do they?!

Sorry about not replying to the rest, but I'm in a hurry - going out in a second.

When I said that their albums were unique, varied and dense I think that's all pretty hard to dispute - whether you like them is another matter. But just to clarify, "unique" and "varied" in this context is basically talking about their position inside the canon of work the band has produced. In the case of Mr Bungle you can immediately identify which album a song is from just based on a cursory listen - there's no mistaking the self-titled album for Disco Volante (the latter is considerably more avant-garde and makes virtually no pretense at having any "normal" sections of pop songwriting) and likewise there's no mistaking either of them for California - while the first album sounds like very stupid early 90s funk-metal and Disco Volante sounds like John Zorn, California sounds like 60s pop music.

Tool, on the other hand, have made three albums in a row that are nearly interchangeable in terms of musical content, and only variable in terms of production expense and songwriting quality - which have been increasing and decreasing respectively over the last decade, IMHO. I just can't find much to like about this album because everything that I hear on it has already been done, and done better.